Student, or Dearest Person?
by GrandLordAtos
Summary: Matsuri's feelings for Gaara have always confused her. But when she realizes she's in love, she becomes fearful of becoming a disgrace to the Kazekage. After all, she is only a lowly Chuunin. Will Matsuri confess her feelings? Gaara X Matsuri
1. If Feelings Could Talk

**Note From The Author:** _Hello folks! Name's GrandLordAtos, formally 'shadowzero1989'. I'm off to a new start of fanfic writing, and decided awhile ago to devote myself to a Naruto pairing other than NaruHina. XD That's when I remembered Matsuri, from the final filler arc._

_ Matsuri, like many of the other well thought out filler arc characters, is ignored and shunned by many for being filler, sadly. The thing is, in my opinion, the fillers were better than having 2 and a half years of reruns. _

_I liked the pairing of GaaMats, and so I created this fic. I hope you all enjoy it, because it took me a little while to complete all the chapters. There are 10 in the series, but they were short on my Deviant Art page, so I decided to splice the chapters together to add some length. In other words, this'll likely be a 6 chapter or so series. I'll upload a new chapter every day, since the series is complete._

_ A final word; PLEASE go easy on me with the reviews. I'm not used to romantic literature, and I'm a little wet behind the ears in writing, especially during the early stages of this fic. But anyway, I hope you all like it._

** Disclaimer:** _[in the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Hang up, hang up, lawyer phone - You no sue cause me no own!  
_

* * *

_**Chapter One: If Feelings Could Talk For Us, What Would They Say?**_

It was a sunny day in the Sand Village. Well, as sunny as it could get in the desert, that is. The streets flourished with merchants, the academy bell echoes through the valley the village resided in, and not a trace of the damage from Akatsuki's attack a month ago could be seen.

The cheerful noise of the villagers soon woke up young Matsuri, and after getting dressed, she walked over to her calendar and smiled upon seeing what day it was. "It's already January 19th." She said to herself, pulling open a drawer near the calendar and taking out a small box wrapped in red paper. "That means...Gaara-sensei turns 15 today..." Matsuri held the gift close to her, blushing at the thought of giving it to her sensei. It had only been two and a half years since her training under Gaara had begun, but to her, it felt far longer. As though she had known him her entire life. She couldn't explain this feeling she had...it was just there.

"I...I hope Gaara-sensei likes the gift I made for him." she whispered to herself. A moment later, the clock buzzer went off, and she began to panic slightly. "Oh my! I'm going to be late!" Grabbing her backpack, the Chuunin girl rushed out of her room. However, she was in such a rush, that she had completely forgotten she had set a pot of tea on the burner of her stove, and left the stove on.

The walk from her apartment to the Kazekage Building wasn't a long one, but fighting through the crowds always slowed Matsuri down. When at last she burst through the front doors of the building, she had run straight into Temari, Gaara's older sister.

"Whoa, Matsuri. Watch where you're going!" the Sand Sibling said in a stern, yet somewhat playful manner. Temari had been like an older sister to Matsuri over the past few years. She had been a substitute mentor for her whenever Gaara was on a mission, and recently for whenever Gaara was too busy with his duties as the Kazekage. She was strict, but fair, and always seemed to treat the girl with respect and kindness you'd only see in an older sister. A nice one, at the least.

"S-sorry, Temari. I wasn't thinking."

"It's alright." Temari eyed the small wrapped box in Matsuri's hands and gained a mischievous look. "Hoy, that for my little brother?" she teased, elbowing the now beet red girl. Temari was also the only person in the entire village who had known about Matsuri's feelings for Gaara, even though Matsuri herself was only half aware of them.

"Y-yes. I wanted to get here early so I could give it to him before my mission."

"Well, hurry up then. He's got a meeting pretty soon, so the sooner you act, the better."

Matsuri nodded and rushed to the stairs to the next floor. Temari smiled as the girl scurried up the staircase. "Such a nice girl. Gaara's lucky to have such a devoted student."

Butterflies rushed through her stomach as she stood in front of Gaara's office, holding the gift behind her. For the past minute, she stood there, ushering her hand to knock on the door but pulling it back before giving the chance. "Come on..." she told herself. "Why can't I move?" Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage and moved her hand foreword again.

This time, however, the door swung right open, and she knocked on the forehead of Kankuro, Gaara's older brother. "Hoy, watch it! Oh, hey Matsuri."

Embarrassment rushed through her body again, like when she had run into Temari. "S-sorry, Kankuro. Um...is Gaara-sensei in here?"

Kankuro nodded. "Yeah. I just got done giving him the morning report. You should go on in before his meeting starts."

The girl nodded, and entered the room. When she approached the Kazekage's desk, she gave a respectful bow. "G-Gaara-sensei...G-good morning! And um...H-happy birthday."

The maroon haired Kazekage turned his chair to face Matsuri, with a bit of a surprised look on his face. "Matsuri. I didn't expect to see you so early."

She blushed as she rose her head. "I...um...Wanted to be able to...um...See you for a bit before my mission, or your meeting...um...whichever came first." Her voice was really beginning to stutter as she spoke.

"Are you okay?" Gaara asked with concern. "You look a bit ill. Perhaps you should see the medical team before starting any missions."

Matsuri shook her head, and slowly brought the gift in her hands to her front. "N-no. Um...I just...I have something to...give to..." Before she could finish her sentence, Temari burst through the door with Kankuro.

"Gaara, we've got trouble! Some of the houses down the street have caught fire, and the firefighting unit is unable to contain it!" Temari said.

Gaara stood up. "Which street?!"

"The main street from the east of this building!" Kankuro replied.

Matsuri's eyes widened at this news. Her house was on the East Main Street, she thought. Then she suddenly remembered that she had left the stove on. In a panic, she darted out the door, bumping against her superiors along the way and dropping her gift.

"Matsuri-chan, wait! Where are you going?!" Gaara yelled after his student.

But she did not reply. For what she knew, this disaster could have been all her fault, all because she did something foolish. As she approached the source of the now visible clouds of smoke, she cursed herself. Could she even face Gaara after all this was over? Or would she be doomed to his scorning?

* * *

The fire she had caused was far worse than Matsuri had expected. When she arrived at the scene, her eyes widened in horror at the blaze that clouded the sky with smoke. Her apartment had not only been consumed in fire, but the apartments next to hers were also starting to blacken and burn.  
"Oh...dear lord...Wh-what...What have I done?" Her head spiraled to get a clear view at the panic around her. People gathered in droves, pointing at the spectacle, firefighting nin rushed around and entered the buildings, embers flew from the buildings and landed on the streets. It was absolute mayhem.

"Alright, everyone! Keep it moving!" yelled one of the firefighting nin to the crowd. This man was apparently in charge. Matsuri stumbled over to her man and spoke to him in a panicked and tearful voice.

"Sir! Sir, please tell me! Is anyone still in these buildings?! Please, I have to know!"

"Miss, you need to leave the scene at once." the man replied sternly. "The last thing we need is casualties and--"

Another firefighting nin emerged from the entrance, guiding out a woman whose face had been blackened by soot and ash. He yelled over to the man in charge, guiding the woman to another nin. "Hoy, captain! This woman says she can't find her son! The only place left to check is the fourth floor, and it's a hazard zone in there!"

Matsuri looked to the man to see what his response would be, praying inside that it was to risk it all and rescue the boy. All of this had been her fault, because she was too dazed to think correctly. A human error for sure, but not one she wanted to live with, especially knowing that it would cost a life. But in the next moment, her heart sank when the man lowered his head and shook it.

"We can't risk leveling the whole building. If that happens, then the rest of our men inside will be in danger."

The girl grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him to her face. "What are you saying?!" she yelled. "You're firefighting nin! You're supposed to prioritize the life of citizens above your own!"

"B-but miss, there are over a half a dozen men still in there and--"

Matsuri drew her hand back and laid her palm out flat, and with a wind lashing noise, she smacked the man across his face, leaving a red hand print on his cheek. She let go of him as he stumbled backwards, and yelled with a river of tears in her eyes. "To be a ninja means to fulfill the duty given to you even at the cost of your life. You...you...you make me sick!"

With that, she ran over to the building and jumped up on a balcony of the second floor, doing the same to the third and then entering through the balcony opening on the fourth floor, busting through the burning door.

"That girl...is nuts!"

The heat of the raging fire made it hard for Matsuri to breath, and even covering her mouth with her neckerchief did her little good against the noxious hazard of the smoke. "Ack...I've got to...find that child...Hack..."

Though having only been in the building a minute or so, her body felt completely drained of water, and her skin felt as though it was about to crack like an eggshell. The building itself was beginning to creak, and she knew that it wouldn't be long before it collapsed. Still, she couldn't find even the slightest trace of the boy.

The main hallway of the apartment was almost entirely littered with burning rafters, making it difficult for her to make her way into the other apartment rooms. She would have begun to call out to the boy, but she discovered that the smoke already damaged her voice to the point where her words were turned into mere raspy squawks.

One minute passed, and then a few more. Doors were knocked open and rafters nearly crushed poor Matsuri. And at last, she looked inside the final room. Surely the boy had to be in here, she thought. The final door crashed to the floor in a heap of wood and embers, and she tumbled in weakly, looking frantically at all corners of the room.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a child sprawled out on the floor. Rushing to the boys side, she rolled him on his back, and noticed he wasn't breathing. A look of shock consumed her face, and she pressed one ear against the boy's chest to listen for a heartbeat. There was none. She had arrived far too late.

Despite the dangerous situation, she seemingly ignored her predicament, and held the boy's small hands in her own, tears pouring down her cheeks, being evaporated from her face. "No...This can't have happened...It's...It's all my stupid fault. How could someone die because of such a foolish mistake?!" She managed those words through her broken voice, before the fumes and heat suddenly began to overwhelm her, choking her to the floor.

As she fell backward and hit her head upon the fragile floor, she in-took the visions of fire dancing before her eyes, and thought to herself. "Gaara-sensei... ... ... ...I'm so...very...sorry..."

For a moment she laid upon the floor, aware of the situation she was in, as well as the pain. Her tears began to surpass even the heat, and made a tiny pool upon the frail floor. As her vision began to blur and blacken, she saw something wrap around her. It looked like...sand.

**_ END CHAPTER_**

* * *

_So what did you all think? If you liked this chapter, but can't wait another day to read the next, chapter 3 and up ((my original chapter 2 was where this chapter ended)), you can always visit my Deviant Art page: http://grandlordatos. in all, be sure to review, peeps. Chapter 2 will be up tomorrow, about the same time. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Reoccurring  Emotions

**Note From The Author: **_Wow. I never thought I'd get many reviews here. I always thought Deviant Art would be the only place I'd ever get reviews. Thanks to those of you who reviewed my chapter. I'm very pleased you liked the chapter. I've decided to update about 3/4ths of a day early just because people liked it.  
_

_ After looking over the original documents, I managed to segment and organize the chapters better, and concluded that there will be a total of seven chapters for the version of this story. One for each day of this week, eh? Anyway, here's chapter two. But after re-reading it, I realized I needed to tone down Matsuri's temper in a certain scene, so I decided to look over that again. I apologize if it all seems a bit shaky. This chapter will contain a bit of difference from my original released on DA. Also, there may be some ill-placed angst. I'm really not sure, because honestly, I'm not very experienced with angst in writing. This was actually my first try at it._

_ I may as well tell you all that in most of my fanfics, I try to venture out into different branches of writing, and thats why my works sometimes get a little choppy. Anyway, without further excuse or delay, here's chapter 2.0+...er...I mean chappie 2._

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own the world of Naruto, its' characters, or anything. If I did, I'd be posting this on Fiction Press, not FAN Honestly, are these disclaimers all that needed? I mean...why not add in an auto disclaimer thing for each fic section? Er...sorry, I like ranting._

* * *

_**Chapter Two: Reoccurring Emotions, Changing Realizations**_

The sunlight Matsuri awoke to the high pitched pinging of a life support machine, and realized that her mouth was attached to a respirator of sorts. Her head was fuzzy, and her chest felt sore. But all the while, the only thing she could think of during her moments of awakening were of that little boy, and how worthless in the face of danger she was. It was pitiful for a student of Gaara, the Kazekage himself, to have failed like that.

"...so you've finally come to." said a low voice at her bedside. Matsuri turned her head and saw Kankuro and Temari sitting in the seats that were next to the door. "We heard you tried to rescue the person still trapped in the building's upper floors." Kankura said with a grin. "You've really got some guts there."

"Th-thank you, Kankuro. But...but what about the..." She couldn't bring herself to ask if the boy had lived or not, but Temari seemingly knew what she was about to say, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Matsuri. The boy's body was retrieved, but." The puppet master lowered his head and sighed. "He died probably a few minutes before you even found him, according to the autopsy."

The girl's fists clenched tightly, tears beginning to roll down her face. "This was...all my fault..." she sobbed.

"I don't get it, Matsuri. It was an accident some idiot caused." Kankuro said, shrugging. "You shouldn't blame yourself for the stupidity of others."

Stupidity? Idiot? These words didn't even begin to help Matsuri especially since she knew it was her who was responsible for the fire, and it was her who let the boy die. "Please...leave. I want to be alone."

"But Matsuri, is there something you want to--"

Before Temari could finish her sentence, Matsuri rolled over in her bed, turning away from the sand sibs, and yelled. "I said get out! Please!"

"Hoy, don't talk to your superiors like that!" said Kankuro angrily. He took a step forward, but Temari put her hand out and prevented him from going any further, shaking her head again.

"Kankuro...let's just leave." she said calmly.

Reluctantly, the puppet master stepped down, then the two siblings left the room, bringing in a dead silence. Matsuri filled the silence soon after with her tears and sobbing. She had never been so ashamed of herself in her life. A simple to avoid mistake, turning into something that cost someone their life. A child, no less! These thoughts in mind, the girl cried until she had cried herself back into slumber's blissful embrace, trying to forget about how disappointed her sensei would be.

* * *

The fire in the village had only piled up more work for the Kazekage, and incidents such as that never left Gaara in a good mood to begin with. Even though the Shukaku had been extracted from his body a month before, he could still be a bit unstable at times, especially under the pressure of his job. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Sighing, Gaara rose his hand and commanded his sand to open the door. "What is it this time Temari?"

Temari shuffled into the office, aware that Gaara was in no mood to talk right now. Still, what she had to say was important to her, so she took a deep breath, and spoke, although in a slightly broken tone. "Gaara, Kankuro and I worked together to make you a nice birthday dinner. Well...um...I did, actually. Kankuro just whined about burning his finger and..."

"Please get to the point." he said gruffly, not looking up from his papers.

A bead of sweat ran down Temari's forehead. You'd think that after losing the thing that made you so irritable half the time would make you more pleasant when the going got tough. Still, everyone had their bad days. "Um...well...we'd like you to take a break from work and eat with us."

This time, Gaara DID look at Temari as he spoke, seemingly pissed off, despite the use of his usual monotone voice. "So what you're saying is that after todays disaster, I should just stop trying to fix things and enjoy myself, right?"

"Uh...Yeah, I guess."

Gaara went back to reading the documents in front of him. "...Just go. I don't have time to eat while I have a duty to the village."

"Um...alright. You...sure?"

"...yes."

Sighing, Temari walked over to her brother's desk and set a small wrapped object on it. "Alright. You win. But please do that girl a favor and open this. She really wanted to give it to your earlier, but dropped it when she heard about the fire." That said, Temari walked out the door, not once looking back, leaving Gaara to his work. It wasn't long after, though, that Gaara felt his eyes grow heavy, and his body weaken.

"Maybe...a bit of rest wouldn't hurt." The maroon haired boy slowly laid his head upon his desk, and in no time, he fell asleep, with the weight of his village beneath his head.

* * *

"...alright, let's try it again, Matsuri." a younger Gaara said. Since dawn, Matsuri and him had been training non-stop, letting the searing desert sun beat down upon them. 

Matsuri had wished a bit that she hadn't requested to Gaara that they train this long. Her arms were weak from throwing kunai, her body sore from the sparring matches with Gaara. He may not have been a specialized taijutsu user, but he sure was tough to beat. "G-Gaara-sensei?" she squeaked, putting her kunai arm down. "P-please, can we take a short break?"

Gaara almost looked like he was about to roll his eyes. But all the same, he nodded his head and turned toward the academy's rest zone.

After getting a drink from her canteen, Matsuri sat down next to Gaara and smiled, the energy somewhat beginning to return to her, allowing her usual levels of cheeriness to flow. "Sorry about stopping, Gaara-sensei. But you sort of looked like you wanted to get out of the sun too, so it's okay, isn't it?"

"...Matsuri, are you certain you have the attitude of a shinobi?" he said in a monotone.

Matsuri's cheerfulness took a sudden spike down at Gaara's words. "The...attitude of a shinobi? What do you mean, Gaara-sensei?"

"...a shinobi is a tool to their village. A military resource, devoted to keeping themselves strong in order to give the best of their power to their village, whether to protect it or serve its' clients. I've begun to notice that you aren't always thinking like a shinobi must. You are constantly distracted during training when you should be focusing."

Matsuri looked away from Gaara to think of an answer. However, none came to mind. "I...am easily distracted, aren't I? ...yes, I understand. But..." she glanced at Gaara again, this time with a face of confidence, as though what she was about to say was written in stone. "...Just because I enjoy life all of the time and all of its' marvels and beauties doesn't mean I love the village any less! I want to be able to protect the village, the people, and...and you too, Gaara-sensei!"

His eyes widened slightly at Matsuri's words.

"Gaara-sensei, I know right now I'm just learning, and that I probably don't have much potential, but I want you to know that I will go to my limit to defend and serve the village! Please, at least understand that!"

* * *

Beams of sunlight began to reflect off of Gaara's desk, and soon woke him from his sleep. As he rose his head off his desk, a paper was stuck to his forehead, which head grabbed quickly, almost as though not wanting anyone to see him in such a lazy state. 

"How long was I out?" he asked himself while he stretched his arms. For the past month, he had been getting allot of sleep, but almost always at unexpected times, he felt. Temari said he just needed to get in a good sleeping pattern and he'd be fine.

Still, it had been nothing but a good experience for him. Ever since he began sleeping on a daily basis, he had been happier, and much more alert. He was even beginning to experience the phenomenon 'dreams' that he had heard so much about throughout his life. Still, the dream that he just had was more of a recollection than anything.

He suddenly began eying the birthday present on his desk. "Matsuri 's gift...Perhaps I should just open it now."

He slowly reached for the wrapped gift. Opening it with a steady hand, he saw a glass heart-shaped picture frame with a picture of him and Matsuri at her graduation from the academy. Written in the corner was a message;

_ 'To my wonderful sensei. Happy birthday! May you take this joyous day to see life from a finer and happier point of view! _

_ -Sincerely, Matsuri, Your Number One Student_

_PS: I couldn't find any other pictures of us together, so I hope this reminds you of me, even though I'm a little taller than you now!__'  
_

"...maybe I should go see her today..."

* * *

The beams of light crept through the blinds of Matsuri's recovery room, piercing through the girl's eyelids and stirring her from her sleep. "...morning again..." she said in a deep depression. She was to be discharged soon, according to the nurse who had been assigned to her the previous night. She sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. "...even if I do get out today, it won't make anything better..." Just then, there was a knocking on the door, and a nurse spoke up. 

"Matsuri? You have a guest who wants to visit before you're discharged. Is it okay if I send him in?"

Matsuri thought for a moment. Who on earth could it have been? The nurse said it was a he, so Temari was out of the question, and Kankuro, though like a bit of a brother to her, didn't care much for hospitals, in which she knew for a fact, so... "Gaara-sensei? Y-yes, please."

The door opened slowly, and Gaara walked inside the room. "Matsuri" he said in his usual monotone voice. "How are you feeling?"

For some reason, all of her depression seemed to melt away when she saw him. "G-Gaara sensei? B-but aren't you busy?" she asked nervously. She began to blush a little.

Gaara walked over to a chair next to the hospital bed and sat down. "Yes, but as of now, I think my concern for your recovery is more important. By the way." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the gift Matsuri had given him. "Thank you, Matsuri. This was a thoughtful gesture."

Matsuri began to twiddle her thumbs and blushed even harder, turning almost beet red. "Oh it was...n-nothing, Gaara-sensei."

The kazekage stared at the picture for a few moments, thinking to himself all the while. "This was the day you graduated the academy and became a genin, wasn't it? You've changed allot since then."

"Th-thank you, Gaara-sensei. Actually, that day was probably the happiest of my life. My parents...have been dead for a long time, and I felt with you being the Kazekage and all, you wouldn't make it to my graduation. I thought I was going to graduate all alone. But...you showed up anyway."

Gaara nodded. "Of course. How could I not? You are my student after all." He got up out of his chair. "Matsuri...I've been thinking...It has been awhile since we've just talked rather than train." He looked away slightly. "Um...I suppose I could take the day off and--um--we could--Go somewhere and--what's the word? Um...Naruto Uzumaki called it--hanging out, I think."

Matsuri's eyes widened. "Y-yes, Gaara-sensei! I'd love that!"

"G-good. Um...I'll leave for a moment and take care of your discharge. You--um--get ready or--um--" Stuttering was a new experience for Gaara, as he suddenly felt a strange sensation inside his chest. It was as though every time he tried to speak, he was slowed down. Without another word, he left the room so that Matsuri could get ready. And while he approached the main desk so that he could help with Matsuri's discharge forms, he wondered to himself what that feeling was...or why he just called the day off...or even why he left his office to come here.

**_END CHAPTER  
_**

* * *

_I was sort of reminded of Hinata in this chapter, what with the feverent blushing. The emotions these two are going through are sorta meant to be somewhat spontaneous, because lets' face it; love just is that way. I kinda know first hand. It's still difficult to nail perfectly into words, and even self realization. A love of my own actually inspired this chapter when I had written it, though on my original release, I never mentioned that, or rarely did I mention ANY of my inspirations. Hope you all liked the chappie. Chapter 3 is slightly shorter than this one, and somewhat fast paced, but I'll spend today looking over it and making improvements as I proofread. I seem to be getting better and better at that, actually. _


	3. Awkward Day

**Note from the Author: **_Here's chapter 3, people. Unlike the rest of the chapters, this one was not merged with another, due to its' length. Like the previous installments, I made sure to look over it before posting to make sure the story flowed through nicely. _

_On a side note, this chapter was written when I became slightly obsessed with researching the world of theater. I thought to myself that day 'Hey, what if Sungakure has a theater for plays?', and thus, the idea pierced my logic. Still, it adds spice to humorous moments, nei?_

_ This chapter was a bit incomplete upon recollection. My guess is I wrote it originally when I was tired. I made a huge amount of reparations, but I may have missed a few things. Anyway, hope you all enjoy the chapter._

_OH, and before I forget; the play mentioned is actually a reference from Final Fantasy IX. Don't worry, though. It's not a crossover.  
_

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own anyone in the Naruto world, OR the play 'I Want To Be Your Canary'. However, I do own the right to say 'FOR PONY!' ...pretend you didn't hear that. That's not mine either.  
_

* * *

_**Chapter Three: Akward Day for the Kazekage**_

Gaara, thinking back on his request to spend the day with Matsuri, began to mentally scold himself. He didn't know what they could do. Heck, he barely knew if there WAS anything to do in Sunogakure. As the Kazekage, he felt he should know what attractions were in his village, but the two still spent their first hour of the day walking around on the main street, looking from side to side like a pair of lost tourists.

"All this time I could have been working..." Gaara mumbled, wondering if Matsuri felt this was a fiasco as well. He failed to notice that, despite the aimless destination, Matsuri was holding on to Gaaras' right arm tightly. One would have never guessed that she was depressed only a short time ago., and in all truth, her holding on to Gaara's arm was involuntary. When she realized what she was doing, she loosened her grip, and tried to turn away slightly.

Passing up the Suno Theater, she suddenly perked up as they passed a sign in front of the theater. "Gaara-sensei, look!" She pointed in the direction of the sign. Gaara read the extravagantly decorative words on it to himself. 'Playing Today At Three Thirty; I Want To Be Your Canary, by Lord Avon. Reserve Seats Only. Don't Miss out on Your Chance to See One of the Greatest Romantic Classics'. He hoped she wasn't about to suggest what he thought she was. "Oh, can we go see that play together, Gaara-sensei?" she pleaded.

Gaara was about to say no, but upon looking into the girls' gleaming onyx eyes, he found it difficult. It was like before, inside the hospital, when he suggested the two of them spend the day together. With reluctance, he cracked a smile, and nodded. "I suppose we can. Lets' go reserve tickets then."

Joy played across the girls' face, and Gaara felt the feeling from before assume a different form. It was as though seeing Matsuri happy was making him happy in return, if not only a little at this moment in time. Shaking his head rapidly, he looked for the box office of the theater, and the two of them made their way over.

After purchasing their tickets, it became easier somehow for the twosome to find enjoyment in the village. Perhaps it was because they were now used to each others' company. They had left the theater, they soon found an equipment store that Matsuri had suggested they take a look at. Gaara was grateful for this, for his zori had been worn out for awhile, and he needed an opportunity to buy a new pair.

"Okay...how do these look?" He held up a pair of black zori in front of Matsuri. She pondered for a moment, then reached for another pair.

"No, too dark for you, sensei. You need something brighter. Like these." Gaara's jaw dropped in sheer horror as Matsuri held up a pair of pink zori.

"HELL NO!" he yelled. "What shinobi would catch themselves dead in those?!?"

The girl snickered and put them back. "I know. I was only teasing you, sensei."

Gaara wasn't finding this amusing at all, and turned his back to Matsuri to hide his intensely reddened face. "That wasn't funny, you know."

"Oh sensei, please have a sense of humor." the girl laughed.

It took an hour before Gaara finally suggested the two check out. In the end, it didn't turn out so bad after all. Matsuri purchased a new jouhyo, her old one apparently having been burnt in the fire. Gaara ended up buying the black zori after all, wearing them comfortably upon his feet.

After departing the shop, they decided to look for a place to eat lunch. They found a little tea shop around noon, and decided to eat there.

"I've eaten here before." Matsuri said as they entered through the threshold of the tea shop. At this time, it didn't seem many people were eating there. They sat themselves down at a table in the far corner of the shop. "The dumplings here are the best in the entire village."

"Is that so?" Gaara asked halfheartedly, not much of a dumpling fan himself. The menu was written on pieces of paper at each side of the table. It didn't seem the place had very much to offer. Chicken and roast duck seemed like the best choices for him, but he knew small shops like these didn't serve very sizable amounts. He'd probably starve before he got home if he ordered them.

A waitress in a sandy brown kimono approached their table and pulled out her notepad, looking like the rest of the people outside who seemed a bit surprised at Gaara and Matsuri traveling together. "Welcome, Kazekage-sama. What would you and your date like today?" The waitress mentally slapped herself for saying exactly what was came to her head.

"Shes' not my date!" Gaara blurted out suddenly, causing an old man eating at a table across the room to jump a bit. Gaara slumped back in his seat a bit when he realized that it had been so loud. People outside were even talking about it. "I'll just have...um..."

"He'll have a large order of the finest dumplings you guys have, and I'll have one too. Oh, and jasmine tea for the both of us, please." Matsuri intervened. A mischievous smirk graced her lips as the waitress jotted their order down. Did she know Gaara wasn't fond of dumplings, Gaara thought.

"Okay. Will that be all?" Matsuri shook her head, and the waitress bowed respectfully to the duo. "We will have your orders as soon as possible."

As the waitress walked away, Gaara thought to himself that something was amiss here. Before he could think about what it was, Matsuri interrupted his thinking, donning a bashful look, and not staring directly at him as she spoke. "I'm um...sorry I ordered for you. It was just...um..."

"Matsuri you...do know that I don't really like dumplings, right?"

Matsuri nodded. "Yes, I know. But I wanted you to try these ones. Trust me, they are different than other dumplings. You'll like them. If you don't, I promise, I won't try this again."

It was a bit out of character for her to be acting like this, especially after what happened previously. But Gaara didn't feel it was strange even the slightest. He had known Matsuri for awhile now, and knew that she was easy to cheer up. As long as he kept her thoughts away from the incident of the previous day and she stayed happy, he was happy as well. He still did not understand this desire to keep her happy welling up within him, though.

"So um...how was the rest of your birthday, Gaara-sensei?" Matsuri asked feebly, trying to break the silence. Gaara snapped out of his daze and shook his head.

"It was...normal, I suppose. Kankuro and Temari had a special dinner planned for me, but I had too much work to attend."

"That's not good!" Matsuri replied, a bit shocked. "It was your birthday! You should have made time for yourself to enjoy their dinner! They must have worked so hard!"

Perhaps she was right. Gaara had been so busy running the village, that he failed to notice little things like that around him, such as the individual feelings of his siblings, his only family. Suddenly, a wave of shame hit him. "I'm sorry."

"No, no!" Matsuri nervously flailed her hands to the sides, sweating a bit. "I didn't mean it like that! It's just...um...Oh, our food is here!"

As if timed, the waitress returned with a small and large plate of dumplings, and set them in front of the two, along with steaming cups of tea. "Enjoy your meal. Its' free of charge." She turned and walked away.

Gaara knew the waitress had only done that because he was the Kazekage, and it didn't do well on him to remind him of it right now. After all, he had so much work to catch up on.

"Oh, please try them, Gaara-sensei." the onyx eyed girl pleaded. "Pretty please?"

Gaara looked up again, and caught glimpse of Matsuris' puppy face. That had done it. It casted a spell upon him, just like all of her other faces she had made today. He slowly picked up the dumplings by the stick, and almost cautiously bit off the top dumpling. A moment after he began to chew it, he had almost expected it to taste bad, but instead, it made his eyes widen in amazement. "These are...really good!" he said.

Matsuris' smile widened. "I'm glad you like them."

* * *

It was about time to get ready to see the play after they were done eating, and the two of them headed for the Kazekage building to get ready. Gaara told Matsuri that she could probably borrow one of Temaris' special occasion kimonos for the play, being rather careful to avoid speaking of her burnt apartment. As they approached the front of the building, their conversation came to a close.

"Anyway, Gaara-sensei, its' been fun so far. I'm sure we'll enjoy the play as well." Matsuri stated with a small air of confidence.

Gaara himself wasn't so certain, but he nodded all the same. "Yes. I think it'll be good too." What was he thinking? He had never liked plays, let alone romance plays. But if it meant being close to Matsuri...It was that feeling again. He just knew it. They soon stopped in front of the building. "Anyway, I'm going inside to see if Temaris' in. Can you wait out here while I do that?"

"I'll go in with you." she said.

Gaara opened the door and stepped inside. "That won't be necessary. I'll only be a minute." A minute was all he needed right now. A minute to gather his thoughts about this strange feeling taking over him. It was almost like the control the shukaku had over him, but far different in many ways. But one thing it remained similar to was this fact; the feeling scared him.

**_End Chapter  
_**

* * *

**__** _Shorter than the last, I know. Sorry. I didn't think very well on how to splice any chapters into this one. Next chapter will be up tomorrow. Gaara and Matsuri go to the play, we know that. But will them being together there cause Matsuri to have doubts? Read the next chapter to find out._


	4. Gurumaru's Concern

**Note from the Author: **_Sorry I didn't update on time. I was having sleep pattern issues. Man, moving to Japan is a bitch. But it was worth it anyway._

_This chapter probably has a few grammar mistakes in it since I'm really tired right now. I apologize for such things, as it is difficult for me to write English when I'm always speaking in Japanese. I almost had the urge to re-write the entire chappie in Romanji and submit it._

**Disclaimer:** _Pigs would already be flying if I owned Matsuri, Kankuro, Gaara, Temari, Shikamaru, or anyone else in this fic. Do you see any flying pigs? Then I do not own it. I do own Gurumaru, but let's face it, who wants to own an old man?_

* * *

_**Chapter Four: Gurumaru's Concern, Gaara's Denial**_

Taking in a much needed breath, Gaara examined his attire in the full body mirror that adorned his bedroom wall. Getting dressed up was something the Kazekage should be use to, but to the villages dismay Gaara wasn't. Staring down at his murky red ceremonial Kimono, he tightened up his lose ends, tried to tame his hair (failed) and mentally prepared himself for the upcoming night.

He would never get over the fact that she was his student, nor did he need to, it was just sudden and unexpected, but it seemed to fit perfectly, even if he himself didn't have a clue what was going on with himself. Stepping out of the mirrors view he positioned himself onto his bed, something he just started using regularly in the past month. The Shukaku...what a nightmare. The only person other than his siblings to ever approach him when it was confined in his body was Matsuri, now that he thought about it. All this thinking, yet not a moment to stray away from the topic at hand.

He knew Matsuri would be fixing herself in his sisters best kimono. He tried imagining it for reasons he couldn't think of, then realized he had never seen his sister wear anything formal. That or it was long since he last saw her in anything like that, leaving his invisionment dead, but his curiosity alive. What would she look like? Wait, why did he care?

"What's going on with my head?"

Just then, there was a knocking on his door. "Kazekage-sama!" called a semi-deep voice belonging to Baki from the other side.

"You may enter." Gaara replied halfheartedly, focusing more on the awkwardness of his appearance.

The door opened, and in walked Baki, along with a strong faced elderly man whom Gaara recognized as one of the elders of Sunohagakure.

"Gurumaru-sama." Gaara said after seeing the old man. "What brings you here?"

Baki bowed respectfully to Gaara and left the room. The old man, Gurumaru, spoke up after the door had shut. "Kazekage-sama" the venerable elder said in a raspy tone. "I have heard word of your recent social activity, and I am rather concerned."

It was spontaneous, Gaara thought, that a village Elder would approach him for something like this. "What is this all about?" he demanded.

"Well, they tell me you have been having a social relation with a young Chuunin girl all day today. This is a problem due to the reputation of the village being at risk when--"

"HOW on earth did you conclude this?!" Gaara wasn't easily angered these days, but something caused his blood to boil when the old man spoke.

Gurumaru's face was all wrinkled, and meaningful expression was difficult to find in it, but Gaara could see that the elderly man was fearing to speak any further. Clearing his throat, though Gurumaru spoke again.

"I am pleased that you asked. See it this way, if you will. The Sand Village is still viewed by many to be crippled after our incredible loss at the Konoha Destruction fiasco. Our number of shinobi has dwindled to little more than a fraction of what it was before. Now our enemies carefully gather all information they can hinting to any of our weaknesses." He pointed a shaky finger at Gaara. "You, Kazekage-sama, are our village's example of power, and as such, you associating yourself with a lowly chuunin is not in the village's best interest. It would be best if you were to pursue having a so called 'average' life if you were to step down from the Kazekage position."

Gaara was at boiling point right about now. Never in his life had he ever felt such anger welling up inside him. Not even when he had the Ichibi sealed within his body. He steadily, but firmly raised his hand to the surface of the mirror he was using, and in a lightning swift motion, his hand busted through the glass surface, cracking every inch of his reflection. His head was lowered to where all he could probably see was the floor, but one could easily detect hostility in the bloodied fist he was still balling up to the mirror. "Get the hell out."

Gurumaru backed up a bit this time. "B-but Kazekage-sama, I am only thinking about the well being of the village! Your duty is to enforce this, and even you should see that a relation with a shinobi of lower rank, or ANY relation at all is--"

"OUT! Or should I remove you myself?!" Gaara rose his head this time, and looked at Gurumaru with the kind of dark eyes he used to give everyone as a child. The kind that everyone in the village to this day feared of returning to his face.

Gurumara did not waste any speech this time, and frantically walked out the door without looking into the young Kazikage's eyes again. After the door had closed, Gaara took a brief look at his blood drenched hands. This anger, rage, and defensive action...he hadn't felt it since long ago, before he had changed his ways and suppressed the Shukaku to his will. But it had returned to him, if only for a moment, and without the shukaku to feed it.

As Gaara walked into the restroom and cleaned the wound he had received, he thought bitterly about what had just happened. Why had he become so angry? Was the anger he had suppressed as a child not caused by the demon that once resided in him? And why now of all times were these feelings coming back?

Perhaps he was still a danger to those he now cherished. And maybe, just maybe, the elder had been right. But these thoughts came and went as fast as the blood rinsed from his pale hands, and moments later, he looked into the bathroom mirror, staring for what seemed to him like an eternity. Tonight, he didn't know why, but it was a special night to him. Gaara was not about to let this conflict block this night from his memory.

But just why did he feel this way?

* * *

People stared, and Gaara sunk further into the abyss of his own embarrassment. Formal attire was something the Kazekage was never seen wearing in public, thus the explanation of the countless eyes upon him. Then again, maybe they were staring at the girl walking next to him in a gorgeous emerald kimono that previously belonged to Temari. 

"It's like they've never seen me in public before." Gaara stated when a few pass-byers began to whisper amongst themselves.

Matsuri's face began to turn a shade of scarlet when Gaara said this, because she knew exactly why the people were staring. A lowly Chuunin and the Kazekage...it wasn't exactly the most common thing to see in the world. She had hoped this outing would allow her to become closer to her beloved sensei, but the publicity to come would be an issue. Matsuri took a deep breath and hope to herself that it would all blow over, and that she and Gaara could enjoy the night.

The theater building of Sunogakure was only a few blocks from the kazekage mansion, so the travel did not take long despite seeming like it. The building, like all the others, was a structure of sandy colored stone, but the entryway had the widest glass door in all the village. So wide in fact that you could see all the people in the lobby.

Gaara was beginning to have second thoughts again upon entering through the door. What the elder had said to him earlier seemed to have some truth it. Maybe he was absolutely right. But before Gaara could think any further, the ever familiar voice of Shikamaru complained from across the room.

"What the heck? Tsunade-sama didn't tell me THAT was in the job description!"

Gaara turned his attention toward Shika, who was yelling at Temari, and he and Matsuri approached them just as the vein in Temari's head pulsated.

"I don't care." Temari shouted. "The job I hired you for was to 'help ensure the success of the play', and now that the lead role man is injured, we're telling you to, and--Oh, hi Gaara-kun! Hi Matsuri-chan!" Temari's expression of anger changed into a more welcoming one. "Shikamaru-kun is going to play the lead role of the show tonight because the original actor fell off the balcony. Sad, but true."

Shikamaru scoffed and folded his arms. "Hmph. I already told you I'm not going to do it." This in turn was responded to with a 'do it or die' glare from Temari.

"Anyway, I hope you two enjoy the show." Temari added in with fake cheerfulness. In all truths, she was refraining from kicking Shikamaru in the butt.

"Um, thank you, Temari-sama." said Matsuri. "And thanks for allowing me to borrow this kimono. All of mine were destroyed in that fire."

"Don't mention it." the blonde said. She suddenly glanced over at Gaara. "Oh? You don't seem to happy to be here Gaara. I'd think you'd show a little more enthusiasm what with your girlfriend being here and all."

Then it happened. The denial inside of Gaara snapped to the front of his head, and for the first time in ages, he rose his voice so loud that everyone in the room could hear, and in a fume of embarrassment, he shouted "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!!!"

The staring, which moments before had ceased, began again, with Gaara's beet red face as the target.

"Could you have shouted that any louder." Shikamaru whined. "That hurt my ears."

Temari broke the sudden silence by laughing somewhat hysterically. "O-oh, of course she's not. I was just saying that she's a girl and she's your friend, not a significant other." When Gaara's glare struck her again, she decided to keep her mouth shut, and grabbed Shikamaru by the ear, dragging him into the crowd and vanishing in the room.

"Erm..." Gaara's gaze spun to Matsuri, who now had her head down low so he couldn't see her face. "S-sorry about...that."

Matsuri rose her head up, hiding the saddened expression she had on her face previously with an artificial smile. "Oh, it's a-alright. It was kind of funny, actually. Me, your girlfriend? How funny. Hahaha...ha."

Gaara just nodded, and started to get in line for the tickets. Matsuri, on the other hand, stood where she was, watching him walk away. She knew she shouldn't have even hoped for the thought, not even once. The differences were too great, as well as their ranks, so why would the thought even have a place in existence? Almost 3 years ago, he began to teach her the shinobi ways, but had she fallen in love with him? A tear ran down her cheek as the thought of a love that could never happen invaded her heart. She felt so foolish for hoping. She couldn't allow herself to go any further.

A lowly chuunin. The cause of the fire that had claimed a life just the other day. A person with such negative value to the village was nothing but expendable. The shinobi way stated, she remembered, that the priority of a ninja is their value to the village. That was the first thing they were taught in the academy. Its a thought that has stuck with her for her life, even while training under Gaara. And now, she knew what she had to do. She knew that if she pressed on further as her heart was commanding, she would only become a shackle to Gaara, and then in turn to the village. She couldn't bring the entire village down.

Turning for the exit, she ran out the door, running straight into Kankuro. "Ah! I-I'm sorry!"

"Hm? Where'ya going, Matsuri-chan?" Kankuro asked. "Aren't you and my brother going to see this show tonight?"

"Y-yes, but...um...I f-forgot something important at the mansion. If Gaara-sensei asks, I'm retrieving it."

Kankuro nodded and moved to the side, allowing her to run past him, and soon vanish down the dim street of Sunohagakure. Little did he know, that was one of the decisions that would seal the events of the night in place.

_**End Chapter**_


	5. Dreams

**Note from the Author:** _Ah. I'm proud of this chapter due to the dream sequence I put in here. It was my very first ever. Oh, a heads up, there's an amusing Shika-Tema moment in this chapter, but not one of those out of character ones. Anyway, this chapter may move along quickly, but that's because when I wrote the original, I was on a deadline. XD_

_I hope you all enjoy it. After this, there's only two chapters left. Oh, and BTW, again I say that the play itself was meant for an amusing reference.  
_

**Disclaimer:**_ If I owned the citizens of Sunogakure OR Shikamaru, I'd be the kazekage, NOT a fanfic writer. Me no own._

* * *

_**Chapter 5: Dreams of Self Recollection and Realization**_

A kazekage waiting in line for tickets. What was next? The Hokage shopping at Walmart? Thoughts similar to this crossed Gaara's mind, and he was relieved when at last he got to the end and claimed what he'd been waiting for. "Glad that's over. Matsuri-chan, should we find our seats now?" When no reply came, he spun around, glancing from one side of the room to the other. Matsuri was no where in sight. "Where did she go?"

"She said she had to go get something." said Kankuro as he approached Gaara. "Seemed like she was in a hurry, so I guess she'll be back."

Involuntarily, and again to his surprise, the scarlet haired kage sighed in relief. "Then what should I do about these?" He held up his tickets for Kankuro to see.

"Hey, just chill, Gaara. She'll be back in a moment probably. I mean, you need to have some patience if you're going to have a girlfri--" Kankuro stopped himself when Gaara gained a look of anticipated anger. "Er...I mean, just go on in and save you and Matsuri a seat."

"No need. We're using the balcony." Gaara interrupted.

"Oh? I didn't think we had a balcony in this theater."

"Apparently we do, according to the woman who gave me the tickets." Gaara sighed again. "I suppose I don't know nearly enough about the architecture of my own village."

Kankuro patted Gaara on the shoulder. "Nah. It's just fine. Just make sure ya watch the play. Temari and I were casted for it."

"Hm? What role are you playing?"

Kankuro began to walk toward the door across the room that said 'employees and cast only'. "I'm the puppeteer. What else?"

As Kankuro entered the door and went out of Gaara's view, Gaara couldn't help but feel something was wrong. Still, Kankuro probably had a point. Perhaps waiting for her to re-arrive in the balcony seats he reserved would be the best course of action at this point. He made one last look at the room, just to make sure she wasn't back yet, then proceeded toward the stairs to his seat.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the vacant streets of Sunogakure, Gaara's pupil ran without glancing back at where she had come from. Matsuri had once heard from Gaara that 'a good ninja never retreats'. Again she thought she was only proving to the world her uselessness. As she cut through the alleyway a block from the theater building to get far from the one she was hopelessly in love with now, she did nothing but beat herself down with these thoughts. 

"I'm so damned stupid." she said, wiping away her tears. "I knew well enough that if I tried to be with Gaara-sensei, but I tried anyway. It was hopeless and a worthless gesture!"

All the while, as she turned out of the alley and made her way down the street even further, she failed to realize the aged shinobi and two Suno nin atop the building that oversaw the alley.

"...so, she came to the realization herself, did she?" said Gurumaru to his henchmen.

"So it seems. But Gurumaru-sama, what do we do next?"

The old man crossed his arms and pondered for a moment. "Hm...we cannot risk her changing her mind and running back to him. Then, my act of setting that fire the other day to kill her would be for naught."

"Sir, if I may ask, what is your obsession with this girl?"

"Simple. I noticed about a month ago the closeness of the two, and feared that if they got too close, then Gaara's resolve would strengthen, and his will to be kazekage would be too great for me to take. I want this village in my own hands, and for that, I must sever all ties that beastly kage has, crippling his will. Now enough of this. Go and bring me the girl."

The two assistants nodded and vanished in a flicker, carrying a fell wind along their paths. "Even more so...this is about vengeance. Gaara, I will take what you hold most dear from you. Just as your wretched father did to my daughter and you did to my son years ago."

* * *

Gaara looked at the clock set in the balcony. A minute until the curtains raised, and Matsuri still wasn't here. Suddenly, Kankuro appeared on stage, wearing an odd sort of armor Gaara could have sword belonged to middevil england. In addition, even he could hear Kankuro mutter 'why do I hafta wear this stupid thing' under his breath as he took a bow and began to speak to the crowd. 

"Ladies, gentlemen, and of course Kazekage-sama, the Kestrel Theater Troupe of Sunogakure is proud to present "I Want to Be Your Canary", a tale all the way from England that we've been working on for some time."

That explained the strange attire.

"This story is about a forbidden romance between a peasant boy and a princess..."

Oh joy, Gaara thought. She just had to recommend they see a romance. Must have been a typical girl thing. Still, seeing Kankuro in British Armor was a plus, he had to say.

"Our story begins with the meeting of the peasant Marcus, played by understudy Shikamaru Nara, and Princess Cordelia, played by Suno's own Temari."

Gaara let his eyes behold Kankuro clanking across the stage in the armor one more time, and then waited to see what odd things Shikamaru and Temari were casted to do.

Temari was the first one seen on stage when the curtains raised, standing in the center of a nicely set up garden scene. Still, Gaara had to smirk at the fact that she was wearing a ridicules white dress.

Taking a deep breath and fighting back red cheeks, Temari finally began the play with the first lines. "Heaven hath blessed me on the night of this full moon. But alas, Marcus, my love, why do you still hide in the darkness where none can see you?" She was turning toward a part of the set that was apparently part of a castle wall. A moment passed with nothing happening, and the redness overthrew Temari's expression. "Er...I said why do you still hide in the darkness where none can see you? ...MARCUS, GET OUT HERE!"

The audience laughed at the sudden outburst of out of character-ness, and Shikamaru emerged onto the set wearing old england raggy clothes, looking twice as moronic as all the others thus far. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya, Cordelia. Man, women are such a pain."

When Shikamaru got close enough, Temari whispered to him "Stop improvising like this and stick to the script.". Shikamaru began to speak his lines, trying to turn away from Temari all the while. "Um...It is because, d-dear Cornelia, if someone sees us here together, neither of us will see each other again. Your father, the Kag--er, King, would not allow it."

Temari tried her best to keep her face straight, because the next line was a dozy. "Oh, I would declare my love for you to him and not care! I would go to the ends of the earth for you, as you would for me! ((ugh...this is putting a bad taste in my mouth)) But your point is undeniable. Now is not the time to be known. Until next we meet my love!" Temari clamped her eyes shut as though expecting something to happed, but when nothing did, she opened her eyes again, and saw Shikamaru just standing there. "Idiot" she whispered "You're supposed to...bleh...kiss me!"

Shikamaru cringed his teeth together, knowing fully that he was hired for the play, and couldn't break contract. With a quick and almost nonexistent movement, he pecked Temari on the lips, then wiped his face with his back turned to the crowd. What topped it all was when Temari whispered to him that the kiss was supposed to be on the cheek.

All of this amused Gaara allot, but as the play went on, his worry of Matsuri's lateness began to consume his thoughts. In combination with the boringness of the next ten minutes of the play, his eyes were weighed down, until he drifted into slumber.

* * *

Dreams were always a strange feature of humanity. Some were for pleasure, some were visions of some kind. But as Gaara slept during the play, his dream became a realization, through the ghosts of his past... 

"...just die, Gaara-kun."

An explosion from Yashamaru's flak jacket went off, taking Gaara's uncle with it, and nearly Gaara too had the Shukaku spirit not defended him. The dreaded memory of this night, the night when his own uncle, the only person whom he thought had any love for him, betrayed him. The feeling he had for Matsuri seemed to enter his mind at this time, but rather manifested itself before his younger image within the memory itself.

"Matsuri!" the younger Gaara called out, reaching his hand forward. Just then, a mutated arm of the shukaku overthrew his arms, and shot forward, striking Matsuri, her image bursting into a cloud of sand.

Before he could even react, the surrounding area went black, and the image of him when he entered the chuunin exam three years ago stood with a dark grin on its' face.

"Who are you fooling?" his darker self murmured. "Have you forgotten? You live to kill, to prove your existence. Even becoming the Kazekage, even ridding yourself of the essence that gave you strength, you were a cold hearted murderer then, and one day, your past will betray you again. Then, you'll be looking right at me once more in the mirror, when you realize that no one, especially Matsuri, will ever see you as someone to love!"

Something welled through Gaara's head upon these words. Why? What did he mean by all of this? Love? What was love anyway? Betrayal from someone who cares? Was that really likely to happen again?

"N...no." he muttered in his smaller counterpart voice.

The image of his darker days morphed into his former half shukaku form, and grabbed him with its' large sandy arms. "You can't say no! Give in! Its' easier, and in the end, you'll never have to be betrayed again!"

Was that what this was all about? Betrayal? These feelings in the past years of knowing Matsuri, were they mixed because he feared betrayal? Maybe he did know what love was after all. Matsuri...

"I said...NO!" he yelled at his darkness.

"WHAT?!" Now the darkness morphed into the form of the shukaku itself, holding a tighter grip on tiny Gaara, making him yelp in pain. "How can you deny this, your existence?!? You've lived all these years slaying others to prove the value of your existence. You were stronger than they! You had the absolute destiny! No one would ever betray you or ever get close enough to! You would be the strongest!"

Gaara spat onto the giant hand holding him. "No. I'd be the loneliest. Power is nothing if its' not put to good use, and there is nothing more worthwhile than defending the ones you love. Wether that be the village you owe your life to...or a single person whom you've come to hold dearest. I will not give in! Now I know...I must be with Matsuri!"

Speechless, the shukaku released its' hold on Gaara, and began to fade into a whirl of sand, Gaara falling into the abyss below him. "Matsuri..."

* * *

"Gaara. Gaara, wake up!" called Kankuro to his snoozing brother. The play had been over for about ten minutes now, and while everyone else was beginning to clear out and discuss the show they'd seen, Gaara was just now stirring awake. 

"...cah...Huh?" The scarlet haired boy rubbed his eyes and looked around the balcony, trying to assess reality after that impactful dream. "Is the play over already?"

"Yeah. I see you fell asleep somewhere through it. Well, I don't blame you. It all went boring after Shikamaru started staying on script."

A realization popped into Gaara's head once he became fully aware of the situation. "Matsuri...where is she?"

"I dunno." Kankura said, shrugging his shoulders. "Why, didn't she come back?"

"...I don't think so." Gaara got up out of his seat, and made his way to the door. "I'm going to go find her."

"Kay. I'll tell Temari you left so she won't get mad."

Gaara gave his brother a thumbs up, something he rarely ever did. This of course was a bit of a shocker to Kankuro, but he returned the gesture, and Gaara walked out of the balcony.

"...he seems...different or something."

_**End Chapter**_


	6. The Rebellion

**Note from the Author:**_ My first suspense action chapter. I don't know if I did too well, but I hope you all like it. The next chapter is Gaara's final showdown against the rebellion. And its' one hell of a chapter. I plan to completely re-write it, just to get it down to an art. Unfortunately, this means it won't come out this week. BUT I will definitely make it a chapter to remember for you all! I hope you all enjoy this chapter too. _

**Disclaimer: **_If I was the owner of Naruto, Ben Stein would sound like Shanon Doridy. I do not own._

* * *

**_Chapter Six: The Rebellion of the Sand Village_**

A flash of wind carried through the streets, and in the instant of a blinking eye, Gaara perched himself atop the Kazekage building. "It's difficult to move in these clothes." he grunted, noting that he was still wearing the formal attire from earlier. Reaching for the handle, a creak shot into the empty silence of his office building. If Matsuri really had been here like Kankuro said she was going to, there would be some clue that proved it.

Entering his office, he noticed something; nothing was moved, or out of place. Even the floor was un-walked upon, just as he had left it. Beginning to worry, he began to scurry around the entire building, bursting through the door of each and every room and examining everything in moments. Absolutely no trace.

"Damn! Matsuri-chan, where did you go?" Opening the door of one last room, he suddenly noticed something; this room was the only room with the lights off. Every other light in the building had been left on to illuminate it for those who had business in it, such as the village elders. Then it struck him. This was the elder's office, where all village elders performed their work. Someone had been here, he knew it.

He began to search the room for any clues he could find. Sure enough, Gurumaru's desk contained a journal of sorts that he'd never seen in the room before tonight. Sticking out of it was a torn off piece of paper. "Maybe this will tell me what Gurumaru's deal is." Despite saying that, he suspected by now that Gurumaru had something to do with Matsuri's disappearance. A minute after opening the journal, he dropped it with widened eyes. "This is...No way!" He turned to the door and ran out of the room, now worried more than ever. When he closed the door behind him, the torn paper fell to the ground face up, revealing to be a snippet from a news article. 'Kazekage's Wife Dies In Childbirth. Shukaku Host Born'. The journal itself flopped to the ground and poured out photos of a younger Gurumaru, and a little girl who greatly resembled Gaara's deceased mother.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of the sand village, inside the southern watch fortress, Gurumaru cursed his suddenly realized failure to bring his journal along, the very thing that up until know had been his personal emblem of vengance. "If Gaara finds it now, he'll immediately assume I'm behind the girls' disappearance. It seems that breaking his will is no longer an option!"

One of his henchmen approached him. "Gurumaru-sama, what does this mean?"

"It means we will have to murder the Kazekage. Tonight." the old man replied cruelly.

"B-but sir, this is the kazekage we're talking about! There's only a handful of us in this rebellion, and we can't hope to overthrow someone so strong!"

Gurumaru glared at the henchman. "Are you saying it is always the strongest who wins? Because it is not. Besides." He turned his head toward the unconscious girl on the bed across the room. "We have something he wants. The girl is the best weapon we have against him."

* * *

Realizing this was out of his hands alone, Gaara gathered a large number of tracker nin to the top of the kazekage building. Time was running out, and he didn't have time to do things on his own. This was the smartest move.

"Alright, everyone." he said to the dozen nin he'd gathered. "I want all of you to spread out and search every inch of the village. Temari and I will search the outskirts. I do not have time to go into detail, but if you find anything, anything at all, fire your flares!"

The nin nodded, and silently blazed off in a flash of wind. Gaara turned to Temari. "Temari, I'm putting all my faith in your judgment. Where should we look first?"

Temari was still confused as to what was going on. Normally, Gaara was cool and collective. He would gather nin and brief them on the reason for doing so. But this time, he didn't even hint as to what this was about besides that Matsuri was missing. She at least had to find out how dire the situation was. "Gaara, before I do, I have to ask. What happened?"

Gaara didn't want to say what he had found out. The ghosts of his past, the legacy of his twisted father, all of it was coming back. "Temari...do you remember Grandfather at all?"

"Temari pondered with her hand to her chin for a moment. "Not really. He left after mother married father. I remember though that he hated father, and always called him an evil man when he visited us. After mom died, he stopped visiting altogether."

"...Temari...Matsuri was kidnapped by him. I'm nearly certain of it."

Temari's eyes widened at this statement. "But Gaara, he hasn't been to the village in over fifteen years. I mean, why would he come back now?"

"He never did. He's been posing as the village elder Gurumaru this entire time."

"B-but that would mean that he's after--oh no...Gaara, shes' in trouble, isn't she?!"

Gaara nodded. "Gurumaru wants revenge on me for what father did to mother, and for what I did to Yashamaru. He'll get a two in one deal too if he kills me."

Temari couldn't believe what she was hearing, but knew it was true. "Gaara...I'll help you the very best I can."

"R-really?" Gaara asked, a little speechless. "You know you're probably going up against grandfather."

"Heh. Never liked the old fart anyway." she said with her oh so familiar confidence look.

"We'll help too." called Kankuro from behind. Gaara turned to see Kankuro waving at the two, Shikamaru on the ground folding his arms, the back of the neck of his shirt clasped in Kankuro's hand.

Suddenly, Gaara felt a hand over his shoulder, and turned around to see Baki smiling at him. "I shall help as well, Kazekag-sama."

"You guys..." Gaara lowered his head a bit, a teardrop rolling down his cheek. "I always thought...even after that time when you all raced to help me...I always had this one doubt that you'd ever want to help me again. Th-thank you..."

"Oh brother." said Shikamaru. "If you're done sobbing, can we just go and figure out where they taken the girl?"

"I think I already know." Temari said. She looked at Kankuro, who nodded in agreement. "The Southern Fortress. Mothers' favorite spot."

* * *

An appropriate wind gusted across the nightly desert, painting the picture of tension across the fortress of Sunogakure's Southern Fortress. Temari, Gaara, Shikamaru, Kankuro, and Baki all looked at it from afar, trying to determine exactly how heavily guarded it was. 

"It looks like theres' at least seven Jonin from our very village at the entrance." said Baki, clenching his fists. "The traitorous bastards. Five of them are ANBU even."

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru added in. "It's a fortress too. Chances are they've got everything secure. We aren't getting in without a fight."

"Agreed." said Gaara. Luckily, he was in his element. The entire fortress was one big sand trap to the enemy with him around. Unless...no, that seemed too obvious. There was something else about the Fortress.

Kankuro's head perked up as he made a realization, putting down his binoculars. "Hey, I just recognized a few of the guys there. They all have Taijutsu as their focussed traits. Why do you think that is?"

"Simple." said Shika. "It means they've got chakra seals around the fort. It's what I would do if I knew Gaara, a ninjutsu specialist, was my enemy. Also, notice how one of them is standing really intently next to that entrance? I'll betting the planted it there."

"Are you serious?!" Temari exclaimed.

Baki nodded. "I can almost see the seal from here on the left of the entrance. If not that, they've got something up their sleeves."

"So..." Gaara began "That means no chakra techniques. Not even my sand..." He felt at somewhat of a disadvantage now. All these years, his taijutsu skills had been his most lacking skill. And just now, when it came down to truly mattering, it had to be crucial to saving someone he loved. "...so be it."

"Now hold on, Gaara!" said Temari. "You won't last in there!"

"Erm...Me more than anyone." Kankuro laughed, cursing the fact that he too required chakra to perform his techniques.

"Whatever, the point is, you should let us go in and clear them out first!"

Shikamaru pulled out his blades that he received after Asuma's death, and grasped them tightly, glaring off at the entrance. "She's right for once. The fastest way to reach Matsuri and Gurumaru is to cause a load of ruckus at the front. Their forces are too small to spread and search for intruders, so they're likely to close in on the prize. When that happens, you won't be able to get past them in time. Thats why you should go on ahead with Kankuro, and let us take out the front lackeys."

It took a moment to accept, but Gaara knew Shikamaru was absolutely correct. Slowly, he nodded his head. "Yeah. Thanks."

Just then, Temari began to snicker, causing Shikamaru to shoot her a dirty look. "What?!" he snapped. "Got a problem?"

"No, no, no. Its' just." Temari blushed a bit. "I'm impressed. You sounded like a real leader just now."

"Pft.." scoffed the Konoha Nin. "I'd better get some extra pay for this."

* * *

Gurumaru was beginning to feel incredibly nervous at this point. His revenge, his rebellion...all of it came down to this. There was no room for error. Grabbing the kunai from his supply pouch. he mentally prepared himself for what he knew, despite all the security he and his rebellion had placed, was to be the final stand.

"It all comes down to this, Gaara. By now, you know what all this is about. Come and get me, dear grandson of mine."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the entrance to the fort, the ANBU and Jonin traitors from the sand stood guard inattentively, aware of their leader's fears of intrusion.

"Man...It was bad enough we were going against the kazekage in secret, but now we're about to go up against him for real!" whined one of the jonin.

An ANBU in a white hawk mask responded to this by scoffing. "You should have known it would come to this. Besides, the Kazekage is weak without ninjutsu."

"I guess you're right." the jonin sighed. "Still, he's not stupid. He won't come alone, and what if they have a weapons or taijutsu specialist?"

"My sentiments exactly!" yelled a voice from above. The ANBU and Jonin looked up just in time to spot and dodge an incoming crash strike from Temari's closed fan. The impact would have otherwise killed them, seeing how it kicked up a large cloud of sand that covered Baki's entrance from the front. Baki immediately began the fight by sneaking behind one of the regular jonin and knocking him out with a blow to his neck. When the ANBU nearest to Baki heard the attack, he charged Baki blindly with his sword drawn, but was pushed out of the way when Shikamaru tackled him to the floor and stabbed at him with the blades.

* * *

All the while, Kankuro and Gaara were climbing the wall near the entrance the old fashioned way, through use of their kunais, one after another stabbing into the sandstone and hoisting them further up. "I've gotta remember never to get on Temari's bad side." Kankuro said to Gaara, gawking at the display below. 

"You can tell her that realization later. Right now, we need to climb." Gaara said, focused solely on reaching the top. He hadn't realized just how weak his body was without ninjutsu until now.

"I know, I know. Still, this place seems a bit different than when mom used to take me and Temari when we were little. She used to show us the view of the desert from the highest tower. Man oh man, childhood memories. Er--Sorry."

"No." Gaara replied. "I think you're on to something. If mother took you all to the highest tower, the maybe, just maybe, since Gurumaru is here, then thats' where he'll be. ...Yashamaru also once took me there."

"Oh really? Wow, I keep forgetting about uncle Yashamaru. Anyway, lets' not dwell on memories right now, eh?"

He was the one who had said that in the first place. Sometimes Kankuro was so dense. Still, he was his brother, and now, he was the only help Gaara had to save Matsuri. After pulling up to the top at last, Gaara reached down to hoist his big brother up the rest of the way.

"Thanks, bro." said Kankro. "Now then, on to the tower."

"Not so fast."

The two turned around to see a group of three ninja right behind them, brandishing kunai. "Oh snap." said the puppeteer. "Um...I don't suppose you're all on our side?"

One of the ninja responded by tossing a shuriken pasts Kankuro's face, slicing his cheek. Kankuro scowled and pulled out a kunai of his own. "Gaara, go on to the tower. I'll hold these bastards off."

"But Kankuro, you're no good at taijutsu either!"

"Heh. Better than you, I suppose. Time to see if puppetry has any benefit on taijutsu."

Gaara wanted to say 'thats not what you said ten minutes ago', but decided it was best to just take his offer, and ran in the opposite direction of the clash that was about to begin.

"Now then, which one of you rebellers wants to taste steel first?"

**_End Chapter_**


	7. Tears, Love, and Devotion

**Note from the Author:** _Wari, wari, sorry I'm late folks. I'm preparing to return to America, so I've been busy packing stuff I'll probably never end up using. (lol)_

_Now then, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It's the final chapter of this fic, and I tried my very hardest to make it epic, although I'll admit, the fight scene and the (spoiler alert...) fake death (spoiler over...) could have been better. I hope you all enjoyed this fic, and I will continue to support this pairing to the best of my ability. This fic was recently added to the C2 community "The few, the proud, the GaaMatsu Shippers", a group I was offered a staff position on._

_ This fic was definitely a grand experience for me, and helped me work on many of my flaws in writing. Everyones' wonderful reviews helped me keep updating, and seeing the 'Your story has been favorited' emails every now and then warmed my heart. I thank all of you who favorited, reviewed, or just plain enjoyed my first romance based fic. I have but 1 closing statement, and that is; GAAMATSU FOREVER! _

_Peace out, peeps. Wait, I just denounced the final statement. DARN MYSELF!_

**Disclaimer:** _Okay, this time I'm making a SERIOUS disclaimer...darn, already messed it up. I do not own Gaara, Matsuri, Kankuro, Temari, Baki, Karura, Yashamaru, Shikamaru, Sand Coffin, Iron Sand World Law, Genjutsu, yadda yadda yadda, ANY of them. They belong rightfully in the capable (but recently lazy) hands of Masashi Kishimoto._

**One Last Thing:**_ Yes, that IS Shikamaru narrating toward the end. (lol)  
_

* * *

_**Final Chapter: Tears, Love, and Devotion; The Student Becomes the Dearest Person!**_

Gaara was starting to wonder why the stairs in this tower spiraled so tightly. Even though he was in full focus, and was determined to reach the top, the staircase just seemed to never end. ...that was just it! The stairs weren't ending, even though they should have!

"A genjutsu?! Damn. I must have left the range of the chakra seals and not noticed." Clasping his hands together, he thrust chakra through his body in reverse, and felt his mind surge. "RELEASE!" Just then, he felt his running become uneven, and opened his eyes. He'd reached the top floor, and was now looking down a long hallway, with a large door at the end, where he was now certain Gurumaru was holding Matsuri.

As he walked, he raised his awareness of the situation. Why would Gurumaru not place chakra seals in this area as well? Did he have a ninjutsu he was going to use? Things weren't adding up here. Opening the door, his suspicions raised further. No locks or traps. It was as though he wanted Gaara to find him.

"Come in, Gaara." called the elderly voice of Gurumaru. Gaara walked into the room, and spotted Matsuri laying asleep on a bed at the end of the room.

"Matsuri-chan!" He started forward, but then noticed the shadowy figure looming next to her...with a kunai over her head.

"One wrong move, and the girl will perish. I want to talk to you about something. Tell me; how did a monster like you, who along with the desires of his wretched father, killed both of my precious children?!"

Gaara thought about this for a moment, for he couldn't deny that he had indeed killed his own mother and uncle. But even still, his father was truly responsible. "It's not fair that you're doing this." he said. "I never intended to have that damned creature in my body to begin with!"

"Oh? Laughable. All those years you spent killing, you enjoyed every moment of it. You're no different when it comes to power than your father, or even the Third!"

If Gaara had eyebrows, one would be raised. "The...third?"

"Indeed. My children weren't the first victims of the shukaku, you know this. But my sister, who was married to the Third...she was the victim of the Third's obsession with that beast! She was destroyed by his technique, when it consumed his mind and warped it!"

"There's one major difference though. I am not my father. I am not the Third. And the shukaku is no more. So what is all of this about?!?"

Gurumaru may have been shrouded by the shadows, but his grin was as visible as it would have been in the light even. "This is revenge...and my penitence...for helping the Third develop the Shukaku Jinchuriki project to where it got! Now, I suggest you call off your sand."

Gaara's eyes widened. The room was so dark, so how did the old man know that he was commanding a small trail of sand to grab the kunai from his hand?! And there was only about an inch to go, too! Gaara clenched his teeth, and released his hold on the sand. "What do you want for her safety?"

"I want you..." the crone demanded "...to commit sepaku in the name of your crimes. Here and now. With your own kunai."

If it meant Matsuri's safety, at this point, he would have done anything. Still, embracing death...the ultimate end...was there no other way? Slowly, the scarled haired boy reached for his kunai. "...very well. But how...can I trust you'll keep your word?"

"Come now, Gaara." he said mockingly. "Would your own grandfather lie to you?"

If your grandfather would force you to kill yourself, then yes, it was likely that he would lie. But at this point...Gaara was out of time and options. Yet even still he hesitated. He couldn't trust the guy.

"You have until the count of three." Gurumaru stated, turning to Matsuri holding the kunai up to her neck. "One..."

This was it. There really was no time.

"...two..."

Pressing the tip of the blade to his heart, he lowered his head. "Goodbye...Matsuri." he said, plunging the kunai straight through his ribs, and falling to the ground.

Gurumaru smirked wickedly. "So, the beast had a heart after all. Well...it doesn't matter."

A moment of silence passed, and the elderly villain took in his victory. He walked over to Gaara's body, and kicked at it. "Hahaha! You really are a fool."

"And since when is it foolish to protect the ones you love?" came a familiar voice from behind Gurumaru. The old man froze, and began to tremble as he looked again at the body. In the spot where the kunai had plunged, sand was leaking out, and the entire body began to turn sandy brown and crumble. He then turned slowly to Gaara, who was holding Matsuri in his arms, keeping a sliver oh his right hand free to control sand.

"Y-you...A sand clone?! But when did you?!"

"When you got full of yourself and looked at Matsuri. Then I just applied the 'acting' skills I picked up from watching tonights play, and pretended to get all emotional. Truth is, if you had sealed chakra here too, that would not have been acting, and I really would have sacrificed my life to save her. However...There is no need to fret when the enemy is a vengeful power consumed old man, who probably has no significant skills left in his arsenal. You lost."

Gaara half expected Gurumaru to back down, and even beg for mercy. However, he did quite the opposite, and began to laugh. "Good show, Gaara. But its' only over...when I SAY its' over!"

Gaara began to notice that the entire room was starting to waver, and the ground itself was starting to become soft, yet retained its' density. What on earth was going on?

* * *

Temari wiped the sweat from her forehead, and clapped her hands together. "There. Now that these guys are all done, we can help Gaara." She kicked the back of one of the ANBU, and turned to Kankuro, who was tying up a few of the shinobi he had beaten on his own.

"Phew. We can take these guys in for interrogation later." he said.

"Wow, Kankuro." the blond laughed. "You're better at hand to hand combat than I expected you to be. So where did Gaara head for first?"

Kankuro finished tying the ninja up, and wiped his forehead. "He thinks Gurumaru is in the main watchtower, and ran ahead."

Temari blinked. "Um, you mean the east or south watchtower, right? The main watchtower collapsed years ago, and hasn't been rebuilt since."

A sweatdrop ran down Kankuro's face. "Th-then what was that large tower that I saw right up--"

Kankuro was then interrupted by a horrifying screech, that sounded like metal rubbing against itself.

"What was that?!?"

* * *

Gaara grunted in tremendous pain, realizing that he had not escaped through the window unscathed when the room had turned to iron sand and clamped in on him and Matsuri. Now on the outlook of the fortress, he turned to his side, and saw that Matsuri was unharmed. With that as a relief, his attention turned again to his arm, which had been ripped open in several places, rendering it a useless fountain of blood.

"I didn't realize he helped the Third Kazekage develope the Iron Sand Technique." Turning toward what had been the tower a moment ago, he rose to his feet, trembling from the wound he'd received. The tower had begun to morph into a different form, and Gaara spotted Gurumaru standing on top of it, commanding the form.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled, her, Kankuro and the others emerging from the stairwell up to the lookout.

"Stay out of this, everyone." Gaara yelled, clutching his arm harder at the shoulder, trying to stop the blood, if only a little.

"B-but Kazekage-sama!" said Baki.

"Stop being such a bother." yelled Shikamaru sarcastically.

"Take Matsuri, and GO!" the kazekage yelled. "That is an order from the Fifth Kazekage!"

Temari and Kankuro, who were closest to the fight at this point, hesitantly nodded. Kankuro picked up Matsuri, and the group reluctantly jumped down from the lookout floor, leaving Gaara to fight on his own.

"As I suspected!" yelled Gurumaru from atop his forming structure. "You, like any beast, lets pride get in the way of help!"

"You're wrong." Gaara said. "I don't want them to get hurt." Gaara rose his only good arm into the air, and sand from his gourd began to gather under his feet, and then formed a platform that rose him into the air until he was level with Gurumaru. "Now, come!"

"With pleasure!" The shapeless mass of iron sand suddenly began to fire a shower of tiny needles at Gaara. The kage flung his hand diagonally, and a small wave of sand rose to form a protective wall to block the needles. When he lowered the sand to return fire, he noticed that a strange formation was beginning to form around Gurumaru's body. His body was now begin completely covered in the iron sand.

"What is he up to now?! ...I'd better not wait to find out!" Rising a large pillar of sand from the ground, he wrapped it around Gurumaru's body, and clamped his hand. "DESERT COFFIN!!!" With a tight bind, the sand surrounding the elder tightened to deadly levels. "...what?!?" Removing the sand from Gurumaru, he discovered that the elder was completely unharmed.

"Hahaha! This is the Armor of Iron Sand technique that the Third never lived to create!" the crone yelled. "Its' ironic that all of these techniques he and I created together to help the Shukaku's host will now be used to end it! Now witness the Iron Sand World Law, a technique originally created for the bearers of the Shukaku!"

Knowing what was next, Gaara wrapped himself in a thick barrier of his sand, just as the iron sad from Gurumaru's armor began to branch and vein out at bullet speed, covering the skies in a thick black bramble bush of metal. Unluckily, a branch of the sand pierced Gaara's barrier, and impaled right through the base of Gaara's other arm.

* * *

"Matsuri! Wake up, please!"

The blurry image of Temari, Kankuro, Shikamaru, and Baki filled Matsuri's eyes as she slowly regained consciousness.

"Wh-what? Where am I?"

Shikamaru was the one to answer this time. "You were kidnapped. You remember anything?"

"Y-yeah. I was...running down the street...and two ninja from the sand village grabbed me. They were jonin, and I didn't know what to do, and I--"

"It's alright." Baki stated. "Kazekage-sama has rescued you."

"G-Gaara-sensei?!? B-but...but why?!"

Temari shrugged. "He was worried, probably. People tend to worry when they're in love."

Temari's words just now confused Matsuri. Hours ago, she had thought that Gaara would never benefit from her own love or love her back. But as she looked up at the battle taking place in the sky, it wasn't long at all before her heart began to clear away the clouds of doubt. Useful or not, student or dearest person, Gaara needed her. That was now the situation at hand.

"Guys...Thank you." She stood up, and began walking towards the fortress.

"Wait!" yelled Kankuro. "It's far too dangerous for you to interfere! Even we can't hope to fight at the level they are! We'll only get in the way!"

"But there's always the chance that we won't." said the bolder girl. "Stay if you want. I'm going to go...and help the man I love!" Without another glance at her superior, she darted past him and began to approach the fight on her own.

"That girls' brave, but this is just stupidity!" shouted Kankuro.

"No." imputed Temari. "She'll be able to do more than us, I'm sure of it."

* * *

Silence followed again after the blow to Gaara's arm, and as his sand barrier began to fall, so too did his chances of winning. Impaled on the vengeful attack of his Grandfather, he could do nothing but curse his inability to act faster. If he had predicted an attack like this as he had from the start, he would still be able to move his arms. Now, he was literally hanging by one arm, the iron sand having impaled his arm all the way through. He could feel it. His shoulder was dislocated from the weight of him hanging like this.

"You..." Gurumaru started, the armor around his body spiking in his rage. "You are in pain? FOOL! You don't know what pain is! But now, I will have my revenge at last. And after I'm done with you...I will destroy the entire damned village of Sunogakure!"

Gaara's vision was starting to blur, and he felt a powerful poison flowing through his body. The iron sand grains were likely the cause of this. "I...failed." he muttered.

"You are not even worthy to be slaughtered by the divinity of iron sand!" yelled Gurumaru, as he commanded the sand to release Gaara, letting him plummet to the ground. "You are more worthy of being crushed by falling."

As he traveled toward the ground, he noticed movement below him. "Matsu..ri?"

And right before hitting the merciless sand, Matsuri leapt toward him, and grasped him tightly, canceling his fall, the two of them rolling across the ground. When they had stopped, Matsuri immediately helped Gaara to his feet.

"Gaara-sensei! Gaara-sensei, are you okay?"

Gaara looked at her with listless eyes, but managed to smile despite his obvious mortal injury. "Matsuri...its' great to see you."

"Gaara--sensei! We need to get you out of here! He's going to kill you in your current state!"

"N-no. My body may be damaged, but I can still channel my chakra. I do have...one technique...that can defeat him. But the problem is that...I require both of my arms to use it. Matsuri, I'm so sorry. I've failed, and now it's too late to say this."

The girls' eyes filled with tears. "S-say what? Gaara-sensei, it's not too late! Its' never too late! We can beat this guy! Just please, don't talk like that!"

Gaara just continued to smile, and looked straight into Matsuri's eyes. "Matsuri...I love you. I finally realized that."

Matsuri's eyes widened. He really did love her after all. All this worrying, all of this time, was all suddenly washed away. Her feelings, that had been dormant for all these years swelled. In an unexpected motion, Matsuri hoisted Gaara completely to his feet, and then reached around behind him, rasing his arms into the air, not once noticing the blood that was draining onto her. "Gaara-sensei..." She wanted to say to him the exact same thing, or even that in this fight, she would be his arms. But she needed say neither, as Gaara seemed to understand, and began to channel his chakra into his arms.

"What are you children doing this time?!? Very well. If you so desire, I will extract my revenge on the both of you now! TO THE END OF THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE SAND!" A long skewer extended from Gurumaru's arm, stabbing straight for the two. It was just then, when the air around Gaara began to grow heavy, and all of the sand in the entire area rose into the air, grain by grain, until the air was thick with grains of sand. The grains then swiftly clustered around the attack of Gurumaru, and began spinning around it at an insanely fast speed, so fast that it couldn't even be seen. The iron skewer suddenly began to break apart into tiny pieces, and then crumbled completely before it even got close to Gaara and Matsuri. "Wh-what technique is this?!?" yelled the frantic old man.

"It's called Fuuton: Storm of Desert Fury." Gaara replied, Matsuri shifting his arms to aim at Gurumaru. "Using the elemental properties of the wind, and my ability to control sand, I can rotate each grain until it becomes a weapon that attacks on the molecular level. Which means...EVEN YOUR ARMOR CANNOT WITHSTAND THIS ATTACK!!!"

Before Gurumaru could notice, an enormous cluster of sand grains surrounded him and began to rotate as well. Fearful of death, the man gathered all of his iron sand upon his body at once, just as the sand began to clamp inward. This was to no avail, for the moment he felt the wind of the world outside his protective armor, he yelled in horror as the technique Gaara and Matsuri had worked together to use ended his life, once and for all.

Along with his life, the iron sand suspended in the air began to fall to the earth once more. As did the sand, Matsuri and Gaara both fell to the ground, completely exhausted. "Gaara-sensei..." Matsuri began. "I hope you know...I love you, too."

Gaara turned to Matsuri, who was in turn looking at him. He ushered closer to her, as did she to him, their eyes closing as they met together with a kiss, neither of them minding the cheers and claps coming from their friends. At last, after three years of wait and wonder, their feelings had surfaced, their doubts erased.

* * *

_One week after the incident, all the rebellion factors throughout the village had been unearthed and punished for their crimes against Sunogakure. With their leader, Gurumaru, having been killed and unable to seek revenge on any 'rats', the captured rebellion nin sang like birds, making the whole clean up easier. Gurumaru sure did have his troublesome way with the village. Still, how could Gaara not have noticed the unusual activity? Sigh, I guess life was so much of a drag for him he couldn't focus, but whatever, its' not my place to pry. Matsuri and Gaara haven't really been seen apart much these past few days. Last time Temari and I checked up on them, they were asleep in each others' arms, sitting on that couch in his office. Made me wanna barf, too. I was about to wake them even, but that blonde fan-girl whipped me upside the head and dragged me out of the room, telling me to let them be or something. Bah, like I give a care. Anyway, today I'm heading back to Konoha. I'm gonna have a word with Tsunade-sama about this mission, because it really pissed me off. Still, I guess I'm glad I got to help Gaara and Matsuri out. Maybe a bit._

* * *

"Aw, do you really have to leave?" Matsuri pouted in her seat, which was of course placed right next to her beloved Kazekage. "Temari-sama seems to be so happy when you're around!"

Shikamaru gave a nervous and wary look at Temari, who lowered her head to hide her bashfulness. "Matsuri...That's ridicules." She muttered.

Kankuro shook Shikamaru's hand. "Thanks for helping us out with that stupid play, man. It was nice knowing I wasn't the only one stuck in it. And thanks for helping with the rebellion cleanup and all."

Shikamaru shrugged. "I just hope Tsunade-sama gives me a vacation after this one. I'm pooped."

In an unexpected twist, Gaara put down the documents he was looking over, and got up from his chair, walking over to Shikamaru and extending his hand. In all his life, Gaara had only done this out of sincere gratitude, and only towards Naruto. Matsuri, who knew her sensei more so than even his siblings at some points, noted that Gaara, despite his vast change of heart, was still to this day breaking away from the shell of his past. His gesture just now towards Shikamaru made her smile, for reasons she now understood.

"Heh. A handshake from the Kazekage, eh? How can I refuse?" Shikamaru shook Gaara's hand, and giving his final farewells, departed out the door, casual as usual.

Gaara sat back down in his seat, and looked at the door that their Konohagakure ally had just left through. "We owe Konoha yet another debt." He said, suddenly changing from a serious face into a genuine smile. "We're falling behind. We may as well call ourselves 'The Village Hidden in Distress'."

Matsuri laughed cheerfully at Gaara's joke, and hugged him. It was rare to hear him say anything that wasn't serious, and despite the fact that she loved his serious side, she couldn't help but love that small bit of humor he had as well.

Kankuro coughed into his hand, abruptly breaking Matsuri off of Gaara, the redhead giving his brother nothing but his upmost attention. "Anyway, I wanted to give you the final report on the rebellion." said the puppet master.

"Lets' hear it." Gaara replied intently.

"Well, Gurumaru apparently began this rebellion three years ago,a little bit before the chuunin exams. During that time, dad was the kazekage. It states in the report that Orochimaru had offered to support his rebellion by killing and impersonating the Kazekage at the time. Gurumaru was obliged, apparently. Fifty ryu says he lured dad into a trap for that snake. During your time as Kazekage, he'd been using his factions across the village to hinder your resolve. All those people in the council who tried to have you replaced as Kazekage when you were captured by Akatsuki were part of his little group, and were punished for rebellion a few days ago. Seems Gurumaru tried everything to overthrow you, and Matsuri was his last resort. His warning to you was probably intended so you would avoid her so she could be captured and--"

"Thats' false." Interrupted Gaara. Kankuro stopped speaking and raised an eyebrow.

"Eh? What do you mean?" asked the puppeteer.

Gaara took a quick glance at Matsuri and reached out for her hand, placing it in his and holding it tightly. "He wanted the opposite. He wanted me to stay close to her, so that when he kidnapped her, I would come to rescue her myself for certain. ...Gurumaru was a dark man, but he understood me well." He paused for a moment. "...I suppose that trait was his greatest weapon against me. However...despite his rebellion, he had his reasons."

This time, Temari, Kankuro, AND Matsuri looked funny at Gaara. The redhead, sensing the confusion, cleared his throat and continued his story. "Gurumaru was our grandfather, Kankuro and Temari. He was the father of Karura, our mother, whom uncle Yashamaru claimed died cursing the village. I think he wanted to continue with her curse, and get vengeance upon the man who sentenced her to her doom, father. Its' only fitting he'd so after me next."

A few moments of silence passed, and Temari spoke up for the first time in the entire conversation. "Gaara, is that what you've been told? If so...it was a lie."

Gaara's eyes widened when he heard his sisters' words, and his head spun towards the blond. "You...are not joking, are you?"

Temari shook her head. "No. I was present when mother passed away. I heard her dying words. I was only three or four, but I remember them as well as I remember the first fan I trained with. Its' true, her death was caused because of the Shukaku. But she died with a very sincere heart. She told me with her final breath that she hoped you overcome the power of the cursed Shukaku, and that you would be supported by those who loved you, and that you loved in return. Uncle Yashamaru...he was like Grandfather. He only saw the baby that brought about the death of a loved one."

"So then..." Gaara lowered his head towards his hands. "All my life...I've been basing my troubles...off of a lie."

"I'm sorry I never told you myself." Temari said regretfully. "I had thought you already knew, and it was a hard time for me to try and think about."

A teardrop feel onto Gaara's lap, catching the attention of Matsuri. Acting upon the impulse she had just recently begun to understand, the girl wrapped her arms around Gaara warmly, and pressed her head to his. "Gaara-kun...Your life hasn't been lived based on a lie if you look around this room. Despite the path that was set for you all those years ago, you have fulfilled your mothers' wish. Look."

Gaara rose his slightly teared eyes, and looked at the same sight that had been there all along. Kankuro, his devoted brother. Temari, his caring sister. And Matsuri, the person now dearest to his heart. They had been there all along, never giving up on him, and caring for him, loving him. "Everyone..." His upcoming speech was interrupted when his former student did somthing quite unexpected, and gingerly touched her lips to his. Time seemed to stand still for a moment when she did so, pulling the Kazekage into a passionate kiss.

No more needed to be said. Kankuro and Temari quietly walked out of the room, just as Gaara's realization had struck him. Gaara was loved, and that was all that mattered. And right now, embracing Matsuri in his arms and melding into the kiss, he was loved by the person who cared for him the most. One who was once his student, had become his dearest person.

_**Student or Dearest Person...End**_


End file.
